Jeff Darlington Credit: ESPN
NFLPop CultureBy Sean Keeley on

National Lampoon’s Animal House turned 45 this year, and while the comedy classic might still be an iconic film for certain generations, it seems like the references and jokes within haven’t stood the test of time for everyone.

ESPN NFL reporter Jeff Darlington was among the Bristol crew that made their way to Frankfurt, Germany this weekend for the AFC battle between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs.

The showdown between two potential Super Bowl contenders didn’t materialize as hoped as the Dolphins got off to a pretty bad start, trailing 21-0 at halftime. While they were able to make it a game in the second half, it wasn’t enough to overcome the early issues and they lost 21-14.

Before that, however, Darlington shared his thoughts on X, tying in the Germany location with a movie reference that he assumed would go over pretty well.

“Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor,” is the most memorable line from a speech given by the dim-witted John “Bluto” Blutarsky to motivate his fellow frat brothers in a fight against the evil Dean Wormer in Animal House. It’s one of those movie quotes that seemingly infiltrated pop culture so thoroughly that people who have never even seen the movie have probably come across it at some point in their lives.

Or so Darlington thought. He spent the next few hours fending off critics who thought him to be a moron for conflating the actions of Japan and Germany during World War II.

https://twitter.com/CookedByTua/status/1721198821865320534

Thankfully, plenty of people did indeed get the reference and revel in the reality that there were way too many angry X users out there over a dumb movie quote.

Let that be a lesson to all sportswriters and reporters, use movie references from before 1990 on social media at your peril.

[Jeff Darlington]

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Editorial Strategy Director for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.

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